Periette's New 14g BC Journal

[Periette]

Well, I wanted to start a journal of my progress so here goes. I am in the initial stages of cycling - rock just went in last night (25 lbs., yep, of Tonga Fusion from Pacific East Aquaculture). Since I live in Baltimore, shipping was only $15 overnight (yay!) so I'm really happy with the shape and what will become of the coraline/color. It's pretty cool looking. Pics follow further in thread. I am not new to the hobby; however, this is my first attempt at a nano. My previous experience was a 125g SPS reef and a 55g sump/refugium. I had to break it down when I moved to the east coast 2.5 years ago. Naturally, I caught the bug again but since I live on the 3rd floor and am space-strapped, I opted for a nano. So, my story begins...

Here was my initial attempt for a stand. I wanted something that could fit the space and store all of my intended equipment (auto top off, Aquacontroller Jr., auto water changers - from fellow nano-reefer's mod, electrical and so on). The sizing looked good but it was no where near stable enough and I quickly realized this wasn't going to cut it so back to the store it went.



Since I like to overwhelm myself, I scheduled the rock to arrive nearly simultaneously with my new entertainment center's delivery, which was my new solution for housing all of the equipment (expensive but brilliant). I picked it up at Pier One along with the new stand. I strongly recommend having a party with two cats, two delivery men, and a box of live rock - makes for a very exciting Friday evening, let me tell you. Oh, and then there was the complete reorganization of all of my wiring for the TV/DVD/Cable/Speakers - and I'm no AV girl! I had to take a picture AND mark every cord - still took me about 2 hours to get everything in place and, frak, my TV's heavy. All of my reservoirs/top off/water exchange/electricial, etc. are stored in the lower part of the entertainment center. Here is the new storage all set up.



So far, here is my equipment/livestock list:

Equipment
· Oceanic 14g Biocube
Modifications:
-Chamber 1 exit - larger to allow more flow
-Removed bioballs; installed Live rock in all chambers
-Upgraded to Maxijet 1200 in chamber 3
-Intend to add small bag of media after skimmer exit w/Purigen and Chemi-Pure and Seagel for water polishing - after cycle is complete)

· Sapphire Aquatics Nanoskimmer NC12 in chamber 2
· Maxijet 1200
· Hydor Flo (not yet installed)
· Eheim-Jager 50 watt heater (not yet installed)
· Aquacontoller Jr.
· Nanotuners 3.24 Lighting/fan upgrade (72 total watts: 10k, Actinic, 50/50)
· ATO for auto-top off
· Reef dosing pump for auto saltwater exchange

Livestock
· 25 lbs. live rock (Pacific East Aquaculture)
· 12 lbs. Tropic Eden Aragasnow

Now, on to a few tank pics of my aquascaping. The rocks are partially resting on the back wall (only touching a few places, which was unavoidable in a tank this size, I think). I am going to put an extra powerhead (still researching) behind the rock running along the back wall but I want it hidden so it will be small. I will be picking up some Aquamend from Home Depot to solidify the structure, though it's pretty stable right now.

Moonlights:


Actinics:


Full lights front:


Full lights angle:


Full lights left side (it's not a rock pile, BTW):


The entertainment center is on the right side of the tank and so it's not fully exposed. I can view it but can't get a full side pic. That's it so far! I will update later when something more interesting happens (don't want to bore the world w/my daily parameter readings).

[GSMguy]

nice rockwork

[Jasonf08]

Rockwork is very cool !!!!, How do you like the 14? I love my 29 & am thinking about geting a 14 in the furture to use as a frag / quarantine tank.

[Periette]

Thanks, I'm very happy with the 'scape and how it turned out! I really, really like the 14g (with my mods). It's one spankin' bad a$$ little tank w/the equipment goodies I added. I'm having fun looking at the rock right now - it was already cured so I'm not getting anything from my skimmer. Off to test my parameters!

[JeffReef]

I agree with the aquascape- very nice!

[eyebedam]

Im liking the creepy aquascape.

[Periette]

Thanks, everyone. Eye, does the rock scare you? As in a big marine monster is in wait to attack? I think it looks like an altar of sorts. Bring yon sacrifices to the nano-reef gods...

Had a curse-filled time of getting my skimmer situated after some equipment move-arounds. Needed to find a space for my ATO float switch, put my heater in chamber #1 (does anyone know, if it's an issue that it's not suctioned but rather just sitting in the chamber with a piece of live rock???), and installed my Hydro Flo.

After putting the Hydor Flo in, I wasn't getting much push w/my Maxijet 1200 so like an idiot, I was moving things and the connector came off spewing water all over. That was a fun clean up job. Damn.

Everything's in but the ATO's not hooked up yet. I ordered new reservoirs for my auto top off (2.5 gallon) and my auto salt water exchange (5 gallons each). They will fit nicely under my shelf in the allotted space - I measured everything 3 times to be sure. It is going to be mighty sweet when it's all done.

Well, I'm not skimming much right now. I am believing that the rock was definitely cured, as advertised, so I will be picking up some live sand soon to kick everything into gear. Still need to do my tests. Okay, seriously, I'm off to do them right now.

[Periette]

Parameters as tested w/Salifert:

Ammonia <.25
Ph 8.2
Nitrite .5
Nitrate 15

So, things are going along nicely. I ended up removing some of the rock from the back chambers because it was obstructing flow and I have a load in the main tank so filtration should be fine. No need to overdo it, I think. So, now there's plenty of room for the heater with no obstructions and the Hydor Flo's working well.

I ended up changing the rock a tad. Now, it REALLY looks creepy - like a boogy man skull. While I like the original scape better, I think this is better long-term because it allows more space for coral additions since it's pretty cramped already.

[FelipeBastos]

I like the 2nd rock formation a wholelot better. I think your animals, will, too.

Felipe

[Canuck007]

Great work on the mods! How about a few pics of the upgrades: chamber areas, under the hood etc.

[Periette]

Well, the tank cycled fairly quickly. So, after letting it hang out awhile empty except for rock and sand, I went to pick up a small CUC from my local reef store.

I added 10 nassarrius snails, 2 orange turbos (very small - will trade in when they outgrow the tank), 2 blue leg hermits, 1 small emerald (same on trade-in). Everthing acclimated well and all are working on cleaning up the tank.

Here are some pictures:
Inside the hood (upgraded lighting - now 72 watts; Chamber #3: Maxijet 1200 for return to Hydor Flo, float switch to ATO; Chamber #2: Sapphire Aquatics NC12 skimmer, live rock rubble, Purigen on top of rubble, shaved down large shelf to place skimmer - floating shelf would not support, expanded plastic to accommodate skimmer; Chamber #1: Eheim-Jager 50w heater, Ph-probe, temperature probe, expanded overflow - may need to make smaller):


Supplies/electronic equipment storage at bottom of entertainment unit (still need to connect tubing and set up auto-saltwater exchange - reef dosing pump to the right):


ATO w/pump:


Electronic set up (Aquacontroller Jr., ATO, DC-8 and heavy-duty powerstrip plugged into GFCI):


Final aquascaping (moved/added rock back to block/reroute Hydor Flo to avoid blowing sand out of the front left corner):


Buster the busy, enterprising emerald crab:


Frick or Frack (one of the orange turbos - cool!!!):